 It's not just an ordinary cane, my dear. It's a sword cane. See? Calhoun used it when he killed his wife, right where you're standing. Alec, you... you killed Sandus. Exactly. And now you're going to kill me. Yes. No, no, no. Keep away from him. I'm sorry. Keep away! My dear! Midnight, the witching hour when the night is darkest or fears the strongest. And our strength and its lowest end. Midnight, when the graves keep open and death strikes. How? You'll learn the answer in just a minute in The House Where Death Lived. And now, murder at midnight. Tales of mystery and terror by radio's masters of the macabre. Our story is a ghostly nightmare by one of radio's best-known mystery writers, Robert Newman. It's titled The House Where Death Lived. Large rambling house on top of a hill. A house whose windows are either shattered or broken. A rusty iron fence surrounds it and its grounds are wasted and uncared for. A car grinds slowly up the hill, stops before the main gate and two men get out. One of them is grey-haired but vigorous. The other wears a chauffeur's uniform. They push open the heavy gate, start up the gravel path. Quite adjoined. You could hardly expect it to be a show place after being empty for more than ten years. It's opened. Yes. I'm glad we didn't have to force it. All right, Sanders. You can go back to the car and wait for me. I should be out in about a half an hour or so. You mean you're going in alone? Yes. Somehow I don't think you're exactly suited by temperament for psychic research. OK, Doc. I'll be waiting for you back in the car. Right. I suppose the best place to start would be... Good evening. What? Oh, I'm awfully sorry. I hope I haven't made a mistake. This is the Calhoun house, isn't it? Oh, yes. This is very embarrassing. I was down to see the trustees just this morning. They gave me permission to go through the place and told me that there's no one living here, that no one had lived here for many years. As you can see, that's not quite true. Not that it matters. I lead a rather lonely life, and I'm very glad you came. I'd be more than happy to show you around. You're very kind. My name is Goff. Dr. Alexander Goff. Dr. Goff. For the past few years, I've been specializing in psychic research. Oh, yes. You've heard of me? Yeah, I'm sorry. No, but I do know that scientists, specialists in psychic research have been interested in the house for many years. There have been several books written about it. I read about it in a series of studies that Kinsey did. He said it was one of the most fertile fields for manifestations he'd ever come across. It has a long history of apparitions and hauntings. That's very true. And now, would you like to look around? I'd like that very much. Very well. I imagine the best place to begin is with the cellar this way. The cellar? That's where Mrs. Calhoun was killed, wasn't it? Yes. I keep the door locked now for that and for several other reasons. May I? No, no, wait. Wait. Don't try to go down. Have you a match? Why? Yes. There aren't any stairs. Exactly. That's how Mrs. Calhoun was killed. The stairs had become very dangerous. Mrs. Calhoun was killed. The stairs had become rotten and Calhoun took them out and put in that ladder. Mrs. Calhoun didn't know it. She tried to go down, fell and broke her neck. But she wasn't just killed. She was murdered, wasn't she? Well, that's hard to say. I don't think even Calhoun could tell you whether it was deliberate or not. For a long time, people didn't even suspect what had happened. They thought that she'd run away and disappeared. After she was killed, Calhoun buried her down there in the cellar. You see, over there, near that big flagstone. Well, I see. Well, after that, there was something about a gardener, wasn't there? Yes, yes, burrows. He had helped Calhoun take out the stairs. Considerably later, he was working in the cellar and found some bones and he put two and two together. And went to the police. No, no, he did a lot better than that from his own point of view. Shall we go back into the parlor? Yes, of course. I'll just shut this door again. There. Burrows began blackmailing Calhoun. Calhoun paid for a while and then one day he called Burrows in here into the parlor. He was sitting over there at that desk. He had his cane with him. The cane that's on the desk there now. You can look at it if you like. Thank you. I would like to look at it. Twist the handle and pull on it. A sword cane? Yes. He killed Burrows right here in this room. That's the cane on the carpet. There's his blood. This time he didn't even try to get away with it. He called in the police and he was tried and sent to an institution. Yes, but that's what I don't understand. If Calhoun had committed two murders, why wasn't he sent to jail or hanged? Because no one knew whether he was sane or not. As a matter of fact, I don't think Calhoun knew himself. You see, when they asked him why he had killed his wife and Burrows, he said he had to. That he'd been told to. Told to? By whom? Well, he wasn't sure. By voices. He said they told him that they lived here in this house before him that they had killed and that he would have to kill too. Excellent, excellent. Just what I've been looking for and what I've hoped for. A house with a tradition of hauntings and a celebration is affected by that tradition and adds to it. What's the matter? They've come for me. They're weighing me down. Dragging me back. They who? You're ill. Let me help you. No, it's no use. You can't pick me up. There's too much on my hands. On my hands. Where is he? He was there, right there on the floor. I tried to pick him up and put him on the couch, but I couldn't lift him. Now he's gone. Now look, Doc, if he fell down, if he was as weak as you said it. Hey, wait a minute. Hey, what'd he look like? Well, he was quite old, about 70 and very tall and thin. He had white hair and white goatee. Holy smokes. What's the matter? Well, I was waiting outside for you. A guy that lives just down the hill came by and we kind of talked a little. I told him you were inside here and you described Calhoun to me, the guy that used to live here. And the old gent you say you spoke to sounds just like him. But it couldn't have been. Calhoun is still in an institution. No, he's not. At least not exactly. That's how this guy happened to talk about it. You see, he just read in the paper that Calhoun had died yesterday. Sanders, yeah? That was Calhoun's ghost. It was, I tell you. It has to be. This is what I've been looking for for years. An apparition that manifests itself without a medium or any apparatus. It's exactly what I need for the last chapter of my book. And I'm going to stay here until he appears again. Why don't you come back? Oh, it's no use. Two days now and not a sign of him. Maybe Sanders was right. Maybe I did imagine the whole thing. Either there. Wait a minute. He didn't die here. He died at the asylum. He'd lived here all his life, committed two murders here. Perhaps the aura, the forces here were strong enough to evoke him once, but not to bring him back again. His wife and the gardener, they did die here. If I could establish contact, I might be able to evoke them. Or else. Or else if someone else died here, someone I knew and someone that knew me. Calhoun! Is that right? Is that what I have to do? Who's there? Hey, Doc. Oh, just a second. It's blowing like all getter. What do you want, Sanders? Well, the Mrs. thought you were getting a little worried about you. She thought you might be running low on food. Oh, no, I still have plenty. I haven't been eating much. Any luck? No, he hasn't materialized again, but I'm sure he will. I know he will. Someone else died here. Someone you knew and someone that knew you. What's the matter, Doc? Why are you staring at me that way? Doc! I'm sorry, Sanders. Sanders, I was just thinking that if you stayed here with me, it might help. But I thought you said I was all wrong for this kind of stuff. You know I don't believe in ghosts. It's anything like that. I did say that, Sanders, but this place is different. This is such a powerful, fertile field for psychic manifestations that I think if you did stay, we could cure your skepticism permanently. Yeah? How? Well, this is such a perfect night for an evocation. I don't hear anything. Just a storm. Listen hard. There is again. It's down in the cellar. Where's that? It's back there. Go ahead, run. You're quicker than I am, Sanders. Run, hurry! Okay, but I still don't hear anything. It's an obsession in a haunted house. A man with a corpse on his hands as the clock strikes twelve for... Murder! That's me and... Now to continue with our story. It's just a moment later. Dr. Goff is still standing by the open cellar door. Lighting a candle, he peers down to where Sanders' body lies huddled on the flagstones below. Sanders? Very dead. Knack broken in two places. I'm sorry, Sanders. Very sorry. But science is a hard mistress. I've been working on my book for seven years. This is the first chance I've had to make detailed and objective observations on a specific set of phenomena. Even Calhoun didn't materialize again. I'm sure you understand. The only problem now is the police. They're apt to be very uncompromising about something like this. Only some way. I know. The car. It's quite late and the storm blowing. There's not likely to be anyone around. Oh, come on. Sanders, you and I are going to take... They're almost there, Sanders. Just a little to see. When you turned the car around before you came in, so it's headed downhill. Splendid. Very considerate. Open the door. Make sure you don't fold sideways. So you stay behind the wheel. Is there anything else, anything I've forgotten? I don't think so. Break off. Shut the door. There's no telling how far she'll go, especially with the streets so bumpy. I only hope that she'll go far enough to pick up plenty of speed. So that when she does... Ah. Ah, she's... She's... She's swinging. Swinging to the right. Yeah? Haven't you wanted to? Or haven't you been able to find a way? This is where you died, remember? Down here in the cellar. Are you down there? Sanders? Are you down there? Not down there. Not anywhere. What's that? Yes? Who's that? Who's there? What do you want? Jean? Just a second. Oh, I'm so glad to see you, dear. I asked you, what do you want? Why did you come here? Why? It's been almost a week now since you've been home. Have you any idea how worried I've been? You didn't even phone me after Sanders was killed. I'm sorry. I just never thought of phoning you. I had other things on my mind. How did it happen, Alec? You were the verdict of the inquest. He probably fell asleep at the wheel, waiting for me. The brakes slipped. The car rolled down the hill and... crashed. Poor Sanders. Somehow I can't help feeling... Feeling what? I don't know. Perhaps it's this horrible old house. Everything about it is just plain evil. Alec, why don't you give it all up? Give what up? This obsession of yours. You started writing your book, doing psychical research to prove that there were no such things as apparitions or ghosts. Suppose I found out that I was wrong. What? Yes, what would you say if I told you that I'd already seen one apparition here and that I was expecting to see another one? Alec, oh no. Oh yes, Jean. The first evening I came here, I saw Calhoun. I talked to him. He showed me around the house and later on I discovered that he had died the day before. I waited for him to come back again, but he never did. And I finally realized why he couldn't come back because he hadn't died here. He had died at the sanitarium. But now I'm waiting for Sanders to come back. Sanders? But... But he didn't die here either. He died? Yes, Jean. I... I don't like it here, Alec. I'm afraid. I'm going. No, Jean. Don't go. You can help me. Come on in here, into the parlor. But Alec... Come on, Jean. Later I'll tell you a very interesting story about this room, about something that happened here a long time ago. But I... All right, Alec. That's a good girl. You know, Jean, I've just realized I've been very stupid. Calhoun couldn't come back again because he didn't die here. Sanders did die here, but he wasn't buried here. And now I'm beginning to think that a spirit can only materialize in the place where its body is. But... But what's that got to do with me? Dear, does anyone know that you came here tonight? Why? Well, I know, but... Good. What do you mean? And... And what are you doing with that cane? You remember I said I was going to tell you a story about something that happened here in this room? Well, this cane played an important part in it. You see, it's not just an ordinary cane. This is a sword cane. It's what Calhoun used when he killed his wife, right where you're standing. Alec, you... You killed Sanders. Exactly. And now you're going to kill me. Yes, dear. I am going to kill you. And I'm going to bury you right here, down in the cellar where Calhoun buried his wife. Then at least you will be able to come back. Oh, don't. Don't try it wrong way. It won't do any good. You see, I locked the door. No, no, no. Keep away from me. I'm sorry. Keep away. Help! Gravel a little. Nice, Doctor. Very nice indeed. You didn't do quite as neat a job as I did, but you did pick... You Calhoun. Yes, Doctor. You're dead. But you did come back. Yes. I came back to tell you how grateful I am to you. Grateful? For what? For having, shall we say, relieved me. You see, there's a curse on this house. When I was alive and lived here, even before I killed my wife and burrows, I saw the ghosts of those who had died before I was born. It was they who made me kill, because once I did kill, they were free. I don't understand. Don't you? As long as this house stands, someone must haunt it. Until I died, it was haunted by those whom I had killed. When I died, it became my job. I thought it would be years before I could find someone to take my place, and then you came along. You mean? Yes, Doctor. Yes, the curse, the evil that was spawned here, has been passed on to you. Now it's haunted by those whom you killed, and I am free and can rest in peace. But you must stay here and live with the evil you created until you die. No. No, no, I won't stay. Yes, you will, Doctor. Oh, I didn't believe it either. I thought I could leave whenever I wanted to, but I found that I couldn't. I had to stay until they took me away. When you try to leave, you will find out why. But I won't stay. I tell you, I won't. Neither you nor they can make me stay. Nothing can make me stay. No. No! What's more, you're right about this place. It is evil. But I'm not going to let that evil continue. It must be destroyed, along with every stick and stone in this house. And just how do you propose to do that? I'll show you. With fire. This can of kerosene. That pile of lumber there. It won't do any good. Take my word for it. No, you watch. There! The whole cell of the whole house will go now. Yes, yes, Doctor, but you won't go. I won't. You watch me. But you can't go without me, Doc. What? Don't you remember? Take me out to the car. You've got to take me with you. Sander... Yes, Doctor, your chauffeur. Let go of me, Sander. Let go. I can't take you with me. And you've got to take me too, Ali. No, Jim. No. Let me go. Both of you, let me go. You see, now you know why I couldn't go either. But drag me back and weighed me down. Please. Now you know why you're going to have to stay here. I won't stay here. I tell you, I won't. Not even if I have to take both Sander's gene with me. I'm afraid that won't do any good, Doctor. You see, the ladder isn't very strong. Broke? Broke? Bye, Doctor. If you don't mind, I'll leave you now for good. No! There is Dr. Goff screams and staggers backward. Far away, a bell starts tolling for... Murder. Remember to be with us again when death stretches out his bony hand and the clocks strike 12-4. Murder. Dr. Goff was played by Barry Krueger. With music by Charles Paul, Murder at Midnight was directed by Anton M. Leder.